Directions for persons wishing to avail of the lift on the Poster Ban in Dublin

by anon Sun Jul 23, 2006 04:58

Qoute from somebody who went to the council to enquire about putting up public notices

"i just spent the day going through Dublin City Councils different
offices being told no over and over til I was referred to an empty
office on the top floor.

Even when they legislate against their corruption it means nothing."

by anon Sun Jul 23, 2006 05:03

Mr. Michael Philips, City Engineer, Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
Office of the Director of Traffic AddressAddress: Block 2, Floor 4, Fishamble Street, Dublin 8.

michael.philips@dublincity.ie ?

Are any of the minutes of the two meetings mentioned above on the web?

by Dermot Lacey Sun Jul 23, 2006 14:19

Minutes of all Council Meetings are pubicly available and as far as I know on the Council website. If anyone has details of how the (elected) Councils view on this matter are not being applied please contact any of the Councillors - inlcuing myself - who were opposed to the ban and voted for its lifting

by anon Mon Jul 24, 2006 07:20

http://www.dublincity.ie/your_council/councillors/city_...x.asp
?

by Dermot Lacey Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:11

The motion was adopted at the meeting of the Council on the 22nd May and the minutes are incorporated in the agenda for the meeting on the 12th June. It would seem that the last minutes posted on the web is for April - which I will follow up.

by Poster Boy Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:56

Thanks Dermot for the info so far.

Could you find out for us how exactly we can get permission to put up posters. Who exaclty gives permission and on what grounds if any can they refuse? if we do get permission does that mean that the council will leave our posters in place until the event advertised is over?

by pat c Mon Jul 24, 2006 13:05

Your help on this would be appreciated. Just on Saturday a council worker was tearing down IPSC posters in Dame St and sneering at activists while he did it. We decided not to be provoked. Could you let us know what guide lines are issued to staff regarding taking down of posters? Are they given a list each day of approved posters?

by Dermot Lacey Mon Jul 24, 2006 13:51

I would be grateful if Pat and anyone else with issues on this matter would contact me as I am disturbed at different stories I am hearing about this. While we may differ on some issues the right to Freedom of expression and protest is in my book too important to be allowed be interfered with in the manner I am hearing. As a Councillor my understanding is that anyone wishing to poster simply had to apply to City Manager inform that the posters were going up and that they would be down in seven days. I can be contacted at dermot_lacey@labour.ie

by Sheepstealer Mon Jul 24, 2006 14:36

Poster Boy,

I believe the unfortunate silly procedure invented by Dublin City Council is as folllows:

1) You write to Mr. Michael Philips, Director of Traffic(!) in Dublin City Council requesting permission to put up posters advertising public gatherings quoting Litter Pollution Act, 1997 Section 19(7)(b)(i)) and stating that there will be a contact name, number, address on the posters (so Dublin City Council can heavily fine the poor campaigns groups and send out their army of personnel to terminate the posters).

You also state that all posters will be taken down before the seventh day and that you shall not dare breach this commandment of Dublin City Council.

2) You will then await eagerly in anticipation for this litir from Dublin City Council confirming either that you are granted or not granted permission to put up posters advertising your public meeting (which you are already entitled to in the law already under Section 19(7)(b)(i)) without writing to Dublin City Council). If it is a litir of approval it might arrive the day before the event on the poster or not at all, but in reality DCC's approval will take a long time. Of course, your grant may or may not be granted by him depending on Mr. Philips's mood or what he thinks of the political/campaigns group in question!

Ádh mór ort with putting up the posters. Try to use wallpaper paste to stick posters as much as possible.

Could people please photograph employees of Dublin City Council and members of the An Garda Síochána taking down posters and quote Section 19(7)(b)(i) to them and show them here for all to see and complain to an empty desk at DCC and to Dublin City Councillors (who may or may not do something about it depending on their political affiliations and what they think of the campaigns group who put up the posters).

Slán anois.

by Dermot Lacey Mon Jul 24, 2006 15:20

two quick points. My response will Not depend on my view of the political campaign involved. I am a democrat. If posters are put up properly and in accordance with the agreed procedures I will defend the right of people to put them up. I would ask that people would not use paste as it does damage council and therefore the peoples property.

by John Mon Jul 24, 2006 17:00

How does someone get a breakdown of the wards in a constituency?

by Sheepstealer Mon Jul 24, 2006 17:09

"My response will Not depend on my view of the political campaign involved. I am a democrat. If posters are put up properly and in accordance with the agreed procedures I will defend the right of people to put them up. I would ask that people would not use paste as it does damage council and therefore the peoples property."

Those are the fine words of a democrat, surely, Councillor Dermot Lacey. I hope they are true.

I would, indeed, not have mentioned using the wallpaper paste at all, only for the simple fact that Dublin City Council are behaving undemocratically and still instructing their workers to still take down posters (I suspect someone of great power and influence is perturbed by the citizens of Ireland gathering expressing their dissatisfaction and they wish to keep numbers attending demonstrations down by taking the posters down sneakly).

I, myself have witnessed in horror members of An Garda Síochána taking down posters advertising the British Warship demo - this is not on!!! I do think people should take photos of those taking posters down, as otherwise nobody will believe me or others that this is continuing to happen. I don't think they should post them here (on second thoughts) but they should send a letter of complaint to Dublin City Council with duplicates of the photos and copy their local Councillor saying they have proof that DCC's workers are still taking down posters.

by Dermot Lacey Mon Jul 24, 2006 20:54

John the wards are contained in the electoral register or are avilable from the franchise section of the City Council.

Sheepstealer - they are not just words they are my strongly held opinion and will happily defend people on this issue.

by number 6 - legalize freedom campaign Mon Jul 24, 2006 22:17

Hey, Sheepstealer. Your Articles are right on the button.

by Seán Ryan Tue Jul 25, 2006 02:05

We live in the digital age.

Going to the council and asking them to do anything is mostly a waste of time and effort. If it weren't for the efforts of Joan Collins, Dermot Lacey wouldn't be able to congratulate himself on something he had no hand in.

Getting the Council to cooperate requires some pushing.

Here's a 'how to' set of instructions to stop the council gagging the people of Ireland.

i. Carry a digital camera.
ii. Put up your posters
iii. Wait around
iv. Photograph Council worker who removes posters
v. Contact the Union that the council worker is a member of.
vi. Make some new posters, using the picture you've taken of the council worker and include any discussion you've had with the relevant union
vii. Put up lots of posters of this council worker, that have his picture and a description of of the dealings you've had with the relevant union. If you've also contacted the likes of Dermot Lacey on this issue, include this on these posters too.
viii. Print the story on Indy and send press releases to the commercial media.

Speaking of voting to lift the ban. Who voted or allowed it to happen in the first place?

Why is Owen P Keegan still employed? He was the Director of Traffic for DCC in early 2004 and was the hatchet man who pushed this agenda for DCC. He's now County Manager for DÚN LAOGHAIRE-RATHDOWN COUNTY COUNCIL. (A promotion no doubt for the dastardly deed.)

Speaking of hatchet men. Why is Terry O'Keefe still employed? He's the Law Agent for DCC who offered legal justification for this ILLEGAL ban.

DCC believes that they have done us a favour. But all they've done is to blow smoke up our arses. No heads have rolled, as they should have and still should.

I've heard no official policy statements from any political party on this issue. And I've looked. Just the same tired rhetoric from the same heads as usual, who'd like the public to believe that they've contributed something other than their usual self-congratulation.

by Seán Ryan Tue Jul 25, 2006 02:31

Just had a phonecall from Mr. John Kelly CFSD (Campaign for free speech in Dublin). He's informed me that the poster ban came into effect in late 2003, not 2004 as I've stated above.

Apologies for the mistake, and thanks to John for the correction.

by Dermot Lacey Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:38

Sean I'd love to meet you to find out why you have such a personal invective.
I have never engaged in any form of self-congratulation on this issue.

1) The elected members of the City Council never adopted a position in favour of such a ban.

2) When the issue was raised a motion was submitted by Joan Collins and I, along with others immediately expressed our support for the motion to lift the executive imposed ban. There would have been no point in submitting additional motions as that would have just complicated the issue when there was a perfectly acceptable motion in place.

3) When it looked as if Joans motion would not be reached for a long time I offered Joan the opportunity to swap with an earlier motion I had down on another topic. For technical reasons that did not work out.

4) When the motion was reached I along with all my Labour colleagues supported Joans motion as did others the Sinn Fein Group and the Independents ( I cannot recall who else supported it but there must have been others).

5) I presume that the Act under which the Manager is acting is either the Waste Management Act ( as amended) or the Environmental Protection Act which gave all powers relating to waste etc to the Manager.

Come on Sean when we are on the same side we don't have to argue. there are enough other issues to divide on.